A SOUTHPORT woman has been sentenced for dishonestly claiming more than £7,000 in income support over a two and a half year period.

Handing down a community order for 120 hours of unpaid work to Susan Shaw, chairman of magistrates Mr D Wallace told her the offence had been deliberate and “you have really brought this on yourself”.

Shaw pleaded guilty on Wednesday, May 16 to making a false statement on June 26, 2003, based on which she received £7,196 in un-entitled income support until January 12, 2006.

The 54-year-old was not entitled to the money because at the time she had about £20,000 in her account – breaching the £8,000 savings limit for claimants – which she intended to spend on refurbishing her home in Virginia Street.

Her solicitor, Michael Braham, said: “She failed to declare the sum as, mentally at least, she had the money earmarked for the house.”

Mr Braham continued that Shaw had suffered a serious motorcycle accident around 15 years ago, leaving her “rather disabled”, and she currently has a serious arthritic condition.

Shaw received compensation from the accident, which she used to buy the Virginia Street property, which had been in a “barely hospitable condition”.

As a further point of mitigation, Mr Braham said: “She has suffered the trauma that her daughter has stolen a significant amount of money from her, and as a consequence of her [the daughter] being in jail she has had to care for her grandchildren.”

Before Shaw was sentenced the court heard she was sorry for the offence, and the Probation Service assessment said she was at a very low risk of re-offending and was already undertaking voluntary work.

Mr Doxy, prosecuting for the Department for Work and Pensions, said Shaw had still to pay back £7,042 of the benefit at a rate of £22 per month.

She will also have to pay £75 prosecution costs.

64-year-old sentenced to one day in prison

A 64-YEAR-OLD Southport woman was sentenced to jail for one day for falsely claiming more than £12,000 in Housing Benefit.

But magistrates heard that Patricia Valerie Whittle kept none of the money, and she walked free from court after her jail term was deemed served.

Whittle received £12,732.32 in the benefit between February 10, 2004 and December 17, 2006, to which she was not entitled because she had inherited the ownership of her Vulcan Street home.

After Whittle pleaded guilty on Wednesday, May 16 to charges of making false representations to Sefton Council and failing to notify them of a change in circumstances, her solicitor Graeme Halliwell said she had passed all the unearned benefit to her daughter.

Mr Halliwell told North Sefton Magistrates’ Court that Whittle had done this after the death of her mother, who intended inheritance of the Vulcan Street property to go to Lisa Pilkington, who is her granddaughter and Whittle’s daughter.

Debbie Flynn, prosecuting for Sefton Council, said Whittle had applied for Housing Benefit in December 2002, saying her landlord was a Mrs Steele of Wrexham.

Whittle, said Mrs Flynn, did not tell the authority that Mrs Steele was in fact her mother.

The prosecutor continued that Whittle made a false declaration on December 18, 2006, when she stated on a council form she had a new landlord – a Mrs Lisa Pilkington of Southport. This, Whittle told officers, followed the death of Mrs Steele in August 2003.

Again, Whittle had falsely declared that Mrs Pilkington “was in no way related to her”, said the prosecutor. Mrs Flynn said that officers carried out a land registry check which showed ownership of the Vulcan Street house had passed to Whittle on February 10, 2004, and she had not declared this to the council.

Mr Halliwell said: “It goes without saying that it is very sad to see someone of Mrs Whittle’s age in court for the first time after living a blameless life.”

Whittle had retired from work aged 48 due to a spinal disease, had been in a “very poor marriage” and had come to rely on her mother, continued Mr Halliwell.

The solicitor said that intestate laws meant Whittle received the property after Mrs Steele’s death, despite the deceased’s wishes. The court was told Whittle was now paying back the unearned benefit at £50 per month.

Chairman of magistrates, Mr D Wallace, first passed a sentence of a £1,000 fine but when Whittle said she could not afford to pay that, he sentenced her to a day’s imprisonment.

She was ordered to pay £256.07 costs and informed about the jail term: “Because you have been in court all afternoon you do not have to go.”

Three found guilty of making false claims

MAGISTRATES sitting in Southport convicted three women of separate offences of making false representations to obtain council tax benefit, in a single day last month. Each of the women were sentenced to pay separate £400 fines at North Sefton Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, May 30, for breaking the Social Security Act 1992 by failing to declare capital.

l Bridget McCormack, 66, of Rose Crescent in Ainsdale failed to declare a Lloyds TSB account, resulting in an overpayment of £2,604.58 in benefit from April 2002 to February 2007. She was fined £400 and ordered to pay £256.07 costs.

l Susan Pilkington, 73, of St Cuthbert’s Road in Churchtown failed to declare Northern Rock and Capital One accounts, resulting in an overpayment of £1,943.27 in benefit from October 2003 and February 2007. She was fined £400 and ordered to pay £256.82 costs.

l Mabel Clayton, 68, of Ditchfield(corr)in Formby failed to declare an account with Birmingham Midshires Building Society, resulting in an overpayment of £6,275.15 in benefit between June 2001 to March 2007. She was fined £400 and ordered to pay £378.43 costs.

Warning from Council

BENEFIT fraudsters will find themselves in court, Sefton Council has warned after successfully prosecuting a series of cases before magistrates sitting in Southport.

Following the hearings at North Sefton Magistrates’ Court, a spokesman for the council’s benefit fraud investigation team said: “Fraud is taken very seriously. The results show that people who commit fraud will be prosecuted.

“It also proves that the close working relationship between the Department for Work and Pensions and the local authority produces positive results.

“The public can help us in our fight against fraud by calling the freephone fraud hotline number 08000 567000 or the DWP freephone number 0800 854440.”